NEWS

April 21, 2018

5 UK Basic Principles to Keep Us Safe from AI – Canada Does Not Yet Have a Position – Why Not?

5 UK AI Principles: Canada Does Not Yet Have a Position – Why Not?

A new UK AI report claims Britain is in a strong position to be a world leader in AI. But to get there, focusing on ethical approaches is key to success. At CATAAlliance and SalesChoice, we are major advocates of Ethical and Transparent AI, vs Black Box AI.

It is already clear that there are major educational gaps affecting Canadian leaders, in business or government that understand AI’s capabilities. A recent Accenture global report confirmed that less than 17 percent of Canadian CEOs are experimenting with AI. Furthermore, Deloitte has advocated that to create a super AI cluster in Canada, Canadians must have more courage to innovate and experiment more rapidly at work and at home using AI toolkits. To lead learning, using AI tools is key to building core competencies. With our continued decline in innovation parity in the World Economic Forum rankings, AI provides a unique window of opportunity to advance Canada to the top 10 nations in R&D, using AI for economic growth advantage.

Many new and unknown jobs will be created by AI, but many will also disappear in areas that are also knowledge worker jobs. Unlike the manufacturing productivity improvements derived from technology, AI has already demonstrated its capability to out perform humans. Hence, the reason for increasing ethics and regulatory frameworks to build the type of world we want to as humans, co-existing with Robots and increasingly smarter Everything.

AI can easily introduce new challenges, and the UK is one of the first global nations to take a position on AI.

The five overarching principles for a basic AI code are:

Artificial intelligence should be developed for the common good and benefit of humanity.

Artificial intelligence should operate on principles of intelligibility and fairness.

Artificial intelligence should not be used to diminish the data rights or privacy of individuals, families or communities.

All citizens have the right to be educated to enable them to flourish mentally, emotionally and economically alongside artificial intelligence.

The autonomous power to hurt, destroy or deceive human beings should never be vested in artificial intelligence.

However regarding the second principle, that AI “should operate on principles of intelligibility,” it is going to be difficult to understand why artificial intelligence does what it does, and why it reaches certain conclusions, a phenomenon known as the “black box” problem among AI developers.

Although the UK AI Council efforts are a positive start to help inform consumers when artificial intelligence is being used to make significant or sensitive decisions, legal, security, privacy and regulatory and audit frameworks must close the gap more rapidly.

In summary, AI is the new oxygen and it will be around everything that we know. Are you ready for AI?

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATAAlliance) is Canada’s One Voice for Innovation Lobby Group, and is crowdsourcing ideas and guidance from thousands of opt in members in moderated social networks in Canada and key global markets. (No Tech Firm Left Behind)